Journey to the World

צ'יאנג קונג, צ'יאנג ראי וגני המלכה בדוי טונג~Chiang Khong, Chiang Rai And The Queen Gardens In Doi Tung

January 25, 2007

That day I crossed the border from Laos to Thailand. I went from the border city Chiang Khong to Chiang Rai. I rented a motorcycle and toured the mountainous area of Doi Tung and to the Queen’s Gardens.

7:00 AM in Huay Xai and I already woke up toward the crossing to Thailand. The border gates are opening at 8:00 AM and are located one hundred meters away from the guest house where I was staying. A short walk and stamping my passport on the way out from Laos didn’t take more than ten minutes.

Crossing the border to Thailand by boat

A boat that leaves one side of the Mekong river in Huay Xai in Laos comes to the other side of the river in Chiang Khong, Thailand after ten minutes. The ride costs 5000 kip or 20 baht. If you want to save a few cents, you should save a 5000 kip bill especially for this purpose. Passport stamping in the Thai border takes only a few minutes. I didn’t have to pay for Visa.

Chiang Khong, Thailand

Near the border, tuktuk drivers wait to take tourists to the bus station, two kilometers away. I walked by foot since I wanted to sell my Lonely Planet of Laos to other tourists (with no success), and to find a bank and cache some travelers checks.

A seller in a book store checked my Lonely Planet, stated that it’s fake and even showed me a dull page to prove her point. She offered me 100 baht for the book. I claimed it wasn’t fake and refused her offer. From the bus station there’s a bus leaving to Chiang Rai at 9:30 AM so I had a free half hour. In a small restaurant I got a reminder for the good food and prices of Thailand – Pad Thai prepared on the spot in a take away package with chopsticks for only 20 baht (about 50 cents).

Chiang Rai

The bus to Chiang Rai drives slowly. At 12:00 PM I arrived in Chiang Rai and immediately went to the information center to get some details about the area. There is no direct bus to Pai. You must go through Chiang Mai which is three hours drive. According to the map it makes the trip much longer. I received a map of the city and the surrounding area for free and a recommendation for a guest house as well. Some times I’m amazed of the amount o information you can get out of a Thai that can barely speak a few words in English.

There are two guest houses called Boon Bundan hiding behing a temple. The cheaper among them is hidden pretty well and makes it hard to find. The nice girl in Boon Bundan number one referred me to the second guest house when I asked for a better price. The Boon Bundan Inn is probably one of the cheapest guest houses in Chiang Rai considering the conditions it gives you. A large spacious room with a fan, toilets and hot water for 150 baht only.

Riding a motorcycle around Chiang Rai

I rented a motorcycle right in front of the temple. It was a Honda Wave 100cc. They had motorbikes for prices ranging between 150 to 250 baht according to the engine and distance. I received directions on how to get the queen’s gardens in Doi Tung and also to one of the Long Neck Karen tribes close to Mae Chan and hit the road right after 1:00 PM.

At last I’m on a motorcycle again after so many days without this freedom. On the way I stopped in a nice viewpoint called Doi Nang Non. I was in a hurry so I missed the turn to Mae Chan. The view on the way is nice and I met a shepherd by the side of the road, visited a local market and a temple whose name I don’t remember.

Doi Tung

Driving in curved roads in the mountains brought me to Doi Tung. You can get there by driving on road 1 (the main road) and turn left to road 1149. It was hard for the motorbike to carry me in the inclines keeping the high speed, and in the declines I had to be careful while driving in sharp curves. Moreover, the entire road has no side lights so it’s dangerous driving there after dark. Before I arrived, I stopped in a nice viewpoint to see the surrounding area.

The signs to the Royal Villa, where the queen’s gardens are located is confusing. I mistakenly drove into one of the villages located on the top of a mountain. The incline is extremely steep but the village is beautiful and lets you see the amazing landscape around. The local inhabitants were old and stared at me suspiciously.

The Queen’s Gardens

When I arrived at the queen’s gardens I found out there are three attractions in the site, and you can get inside them all for a special price of 150 baht. Even though the place is far away from Chiang Rai, about fifty kilometers, it’s recommended to skip the Royal Villa which is a big wooden house. You can also skip the Princess’ hall, or whatever it is. All the explanations inside are in Thai so if you don’t understand the language, you have nothing to see there.

The Queen’s Gardens are pretty. Inside there is a large amount of special flowers from different kinds. You can spend there between thirty minute to two hours (80 baht).

I left the place at 6:00 PM and it was already getting dark. After I was told that the Karen’s tribe was already closed, I decided to go back to Chiang Rai. When I exited the Doi Tung I entered a small village where I saw houses whose roofs were covered in an orange climber flower which gave them a special look.

Curved road to Chiang Rai

It was getting very dark in the mountainous road. This time I didn’t drive on inclines but on declines. If in Vang Vieng I experienced for the first time field driving, then in Chiang Rai I experienced for the first time driving in a curved mountainous road, not less complicated.

Light motorbikes in Thailand has a useful component on the front side – a small bag in which I always put my bag. The only disadvantage of it is that it hides the front light, so you can’t use it at night, and definitely not in dark curved way that go through the mountains like in Doi Tung.

The way back to Chiang Rai on the main road I did as fast as I could. The motorbike couldn’t go faster than 95 km/h. A test I made led me to the conclusion that mosquitoes can fly up to the speed of 80 km/h. This was the speed in which I was starting to hear them smashing into my helmet. After a twenty minutes drive, the helmet was full with dozens of dead mosquitoes so I had to stop in order to clean it.

Local food market

Fifteen kilometers before Chiang Rai, I stopped in a local food market where I saw mainly young Thais. There were no tourists at all. I had dinner at a local restaurant a dish that included rice and fried vegetables with chicken along with chicken soup. They make it on the spot and it’s very tasty for a ridiculous price of 20 baht. In the market I bought one of the most common products in the Thai markets – a small tray with various fruits precut for 10 baht. That day I discovered that Thai people eat their mango green. It had a texture as an apple instead of the usual mango I know.

Boox’s Computer Store

Near the market I found a real gem that I was looking or a long time now. It was a computer store owned by a nice guy called boox (probably written in a different way). He let me burn four DVD medias for a reasonable price unlike other places.

I sat three hours in Boox’s store, a computer technician who learned in CRU – Chiang Rai University, and backupped pictures and video clips of over 16 GB from my hard drive gathered in the past two weeks. There was a sweet one year old coker spaniel dog sitting in the store. According to Boox it was imported from Mecca. This was were I finally broke the myth saying that Thai people eat dogs. When I told the guys in the store that in North Vietnam people eat dog meat, they were disgusted and shocked.

That was interesting… One thing for sure, in Thailand many people raise dogs as pets and there’s nothing unusual about it. I find it hard to believe that I’ll find the price of 50 baht per DVD. All in all, I paid about $6 USD for four DVDs including full access to arranging my files.